PROCESSING AND PRODUCTS
Instrumental texture analysis of chicken patties prepared with
broiler breast fillets exhibiting woody breast characteristics
Juan P. Caldas-Cueva,* A. Mauromoustakos,y and Casey M. Owens*,1
*Department of Poultry Science, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville 72701, USA; and yAgricultural Statistics
Laboratory, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville 72701, USA
ABSTRACT Potential applications of chicken meat
with the woody breast (WB) condition in further processed products could provide processors with alternatives to deal with this meat quality problem. The
objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of the
use of broiler breast fillets at varying degrees of WB
severity and proportions on instrumental texture characteristics of chicken patties. A total of 54 breast fillets
were collected from broilers processed as per commercial
practices, previously classified based on tactile evaluation in 3 WB categories (normal [NOR]; mild [MIL], and
severe [SEV]). Instrumental compression analysis was
performed to validate subjective scores. Nine treatments
with 6 replicates of chicken patties were prepared: 100%
NOR (T1), 67% NOR 1 33% MIL (T2), 67% NOR 1 33%
SEV (T3), 33% NOR 1 67% MIL (T4), 33% NOR 1 67%
SEV (T5), 100% MIL (T6), 67% MIL 1 33% SEV (T7),
33% MIL 1 67% SEV (T8), and 100% SEV (T9).
Instrumental texture profile analysis along with cook
loss, color, and dimensional changes was evaluated in
cooked patties. Compared with normal samples and
excluding treatments T2 and T4, hardness, springiness,
and chewiness values of chicken patties decreased
(P , 0.05) as WB severity increased in the meat incorporated into the formulation. Patties prepared using
mixtures of MIL and SEV fillets (T7 and T8) including T9
had higher levels of cook loss (.26%, P , 0.05) accompanied by significant reductions in diameter (.16%,
P , 0.05) and distinguishable color changes (DE*ab . 2)
than normal patties. These data suggest that the potential use of WB meat in chicken patties is associated
with the degree of WB severity and the incorporation
rate. The inclusion of WB fillets at high levels into this
product is not recommended owing to their poor functionality. However, feasible mixtures of normal breast
fillets with those affected by WB myopathy at relatively
low proportions could be considered by processors as an
alternative in commercial chicken patty formulations.
Key words: woody breast, texture profile analysis, processing, poultry product, meat quality
2021 Poultry Science 100:1239–1247
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psj.2020.09.093
INTRODUCTION
Over the past few year, the global poultry industry has
been facing the woody breast (WB) condition, an
increasing and challenging meat quality problem that
is characterized by a noticeable abnormal hardness in
the chicken breast fillets (Sihvo et al., 2014; Mudalal
et al., 2015). This myopathy can cause significant economic losses because broiler breast fillets affected by
this anomaly show undesirable nutritional and sensorial
characteristics that can negatively impact the consumer
acceptability (Petracci et al., 2015), which makes urgent
Ó 2020 Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of Poultry Science
Association Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NCND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Received May 6, 2020.
Accepted September 30, 2020.
1
Corresponding author: cmowens@uark.edu
the development and selection of cost-effective alternatives for the use of WB meat once broiler carcasses or
their corresponding breast fillets affected by this anomaly are effectively detected and classified (Petracci
et al., 2019; Santos et al., 2019). This WB disorder has
a detrimental effect on the broiler breast meat quality
by changing its functional properties. Indeed, the WB
meat exhibits an altered composition such as higher
levels of fat, collagen, and moisture and lower levels of
protein and ash (Soglia et al., 2016a,b; Baldi et al.,
2019).
In the aforementioned context, the preparation of
further processed products using chicken meat affected
by WB abnormality could be a possible alternative
because the chemical composition can be modified during formulation (Petracci et al., 2015) as well as further
processing operations can modify meat properties
(Acton, 1972; Aberle et al., 2001), which could mitigate
or minimize undesirable effects on final product quality
1239
1240
CALDAS-CUEVA ET AL.
(Petracci et al., 2019) providing processors options to
face this meat quality problem. In this regard, some attempts have been made to develop and evaluate poultry
meat products using WB meat such as marinated whole
muscle product (Tijare et al., 2016; Caldas-Cueva and
Owens, 2020), sausages (Qin, 2013; Madruga et al.,
2019), nuggets (Qin, 2013), and patties (SanchezBrambila et al., 2017; Santos et al., 2019). Moreover,
functional properties of meat batters prepared from
WB meat have been assessed (Xing et al., 2017; Chen
et al., 2018). However, further research is still needed
to understand the impact of using chicken meat with
different degrees of WB severity at varying proportions
in poultry meat products. For instance, none of these trials have used broiler breast fillets partially affected by
WB myopathy at different proportions in their experimental designs. In addition, most of these studies have
included food additives in their product formulations
such as salt and phosphates, which could have masked
the effect of WB myopathy on these products by the
interaction between WB meat and those additives that
can modify functional properties such as water holding
capacity and texture attributes of cooked meat products
(Sanchez-Brambila et al., 2017). With this in mind,
investigating the effect of the application of only broiler
breast fillets of different WB categories at varying proportions in processed products could be a suitable
approach to evaluate the actual impact of this meat
quality issue, which could serve as a base for the development of formulas including adequate ingredients for industrial applications. Thus, this study aimed to assess
the effect of the use of broiler breast fillets at different degrees of WB severity and percentages on instrumental
texture characteristics of chicken patties in addition to
other quality traits.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Sample Collection
Breast fillets (pectoralis major) were collected from
commercial broilers (high breast yielding strain and
8 wk of age) processed at the University of Arkansas
Poultry Processing Pilot Plant as per commercialbased practices (Mahaffey et al., 2006) including a prechill (15 min at 12 C), chill (90 min at 1 C), and debone
time of 3 h postmortem.
Boneless and skinless breast fillets were scored for degree of hardness using tactile inspection (Tijare et al.,
2016) after deboning. The scored fillets were classified
into 3 WB categories, as follows: 0.0 or 0.5 as normal fillets of flexible consistency throughout; 1.0 or 1.5 as mild
WB or fillets partially affected by WB condition of hard
consistency primarily in the cranial region exhibiting
some flexibility in the middle to caudal section, and
2.0, 2.5 or 3.0 for fillets moderately or severely affected
by WB condition or fillets of very firm and hard texture
throughout with nonexistent or limited flexibility in the
middle to caudal area. In parallel, instrumental compression force analysis was performed to validate subjective
scores. After WB scoring and compression force analyses, a total of 54 classified fillets (18 per WB category)
were packed in zip-sealed plastic bags and stored overnight at 4 C.
Meat Quality Characteristics
Compression force (CF) assessment was determined
on intact fillets by averaging 4 readings at predetermined locations in the cranial section of each fillet using
a texture analyzer (Model TA.XT Plus; Texture Technologies Corp., Scarsdale, NY). Broiler breast fillets
were compressed to 20% of their initial height with a
6-mm-diameter flat probe using the following settings:
pretest and post-test speeds of 10.0 mm/s, test speed
of 5.0 mm/s, load cell capacity of 5 kg, and a trigger force
of 5 g (Sun et al., 2018). At 24-h postmortem, instrumental color (CIE L* 5 lightness, a* 5 redness, and
b* 5 yellowness) was measured in triplicate on the dorsal surface (bone side) of each fillet using a calibrated
colorimeter (Model CR-400; Konica Minolta Sensing
Inc., Osaka, Japan), whereas the pH was determined
at the cranial end section of each fillet using a portable
spear-tip probe and pH meter (Model Testo 205; Testo
Inc., Sparta, NJ).
Preparation of Chicken Patties
Nine formulations or treatments (T1 through T9) with
6 replicates of chicken patties were prepared from broiler
breast fillets at varying degrees of WB severity as
described in Table 1. The preparation of one patty sample per treatment on a different trial batch using 3 fillets
per WB category was considered a replicate. The entire
cranial region of breast fillets (the thickest portion;
approximately 2/5 of each fillet) was cut, trimmed,
and ground separately by WB category using an electric
meat grinder (Chefmate, CC12; GFE, Dayton, OH)
through a 3-mm plate. Subsequently, the ground breast
meat groups were added into the recipe as per the proportions shown in the experimental design (Table 1).
Each combination or treatment was manually mixed until a homogeneous consistency was obtained and then
placed in a plastic Petri dish to obtain a consistent
circular-shaped chicken patty (diameter: 87 mm, height
or thickness: 15 mm; weight: 85 g). Samples were individually vacuum-packed and stored at 222 C for no
more than 7 d until cooking for further analysis.
Sample Cooking
Frozen chicken patties were thawed at 2 C for 24 h
and cooked on a preheated (150 C) 20-inch electric
griddle (Model 0705305; National Presto Industries
Inc., Eau Claire, WI) turning them at 3 min until the targeted core temperature reached 75 C. Internal patty
temperatures were recorded using a 12-channel Digisense scanning thermometer (Model 69200-00; Barnant
Co., Barrington, IL). Cooked patties were cooled to
room temperature (23 C 6 2 C) and analyzed.
TEXTURE ANALYSIS OF PATTIES MADE WITH WOODY BREAST
1241
Table 1. Experimental design of 3 broiler breast meat constituents at varying
percentages and degrees of woody breast (WB) severity in chicken patty
formulation.
Ingredient
proportions1
Treatment (mixture)
X1
X2
X3
Nor (%)
MIL (%)
SEV (%)
T1
T2
T3
T4
T5
T6
T7
T8
T9
1
0.67
0.67
0.33
0.33
0
0
0
0
0
0.33
0
0.67
0
1
0.67
0.33
0
0
0
0.33
0
0.67
0
0.33
0.67
1
100
67
67
33
33
0
0
0
0
0
33
0
67
0
100
67
33
0
0
0
33
0
67
0
33
67
100
1
X1, proportion of normal breast (NOR) meat; X2, proportion of mild WB (MIL)
meat; X3, proportion of moderate or severe WB (SEV) meat.
Determination of Cook Loss and
Dimensional Changes
The patties were weighed before and after cooking to
determine the percentage of cook loss as per the formula:
cook loss (%) 5 ([raw patty weight–cooked patty
weight]/raw patty weight) ! 100. The diameter and
height of raw and cooked chicken patties were measured
at 3 different points per sample using a digital vernier
caliper (Model W80152; Wilmar Corp., Tukwila, WA).
The values from the 3 points for each dimension were
averaged before further use. Reduction levels (%) in
diameter and height were determined using the formula:
reduction in diameter or height (%) 5 ([raw patty
measurement–cooked patty measurement]/raw patty
measurement) ! 100.
Instrumental Color Evaluation
Instrumental color (CIE L* 5 lightness, a* 5 redness,
and b* 5 yellowness) was measured in triplicate on the
cross-sectional surface of each cooked chicken patty using a calibrated colorimeter (Model CR-400; Konica
Minolta Sensing Inc., Osaka, Japan). The settings of illuminant D65 and 2 observer (Caldas-Cueva et al., 2016)
were used. The total color difference (DE*ab) was calculated to evaluate the overall color change between a
given cooked chicken patty and the reference sample
that was the cooked chicken patty prepared with 100%
of normal or unaffected broiler breast meat. The DE*ab
value was determined as per the formula:
DE*ab 5 [(L*i–L*o)2 1 (a*i–a*o)2 1 (b*i–b*o)2]1/2,
where L*o, a*o and b*o were the values of the color reference (normal chicken patty), and L*i, a*i, and b*i were
the values of each chicken patty evaluated.
Texture Profile Analysis
Texture profile analysis (TPA) was carried out at
room temperature (23.0 C 6 2 C) with a texture
analyzer (Model TA.XT Plus; Texture Technologies
Corp., Scarsdale, NY). Cylindrical test samples (diameter: 23.0 mm and thickness: 14.4 mm) were taken
from the central portion of cooked chicken patties using
a corer and subjected to a two-cycle compression test.
Test samples were compressed to 25% of their original
height using a cylindrical probe of 5.08 cm in diameter
with the following settings: pretest speed of 1.0 mm/s,
test speed of 2.0 mm/s, post-test speed of 2.0 mm/s,
load cell capacity of 5 kg, and a trigger force of 5 g.
The test samples were analyzed for four TPA parameters: hardness (N), cohesiveness, springiness, and chewiness (N).
Statistical Analysis
Data were analyzed using a 1-way ANOVA with WB
category (for meat quality characteristics) or treatment
factor (for TPA parameters, instrumental color parameters, cook loss levels, and reduction levels in dimensions
of chicken patties) fit as fixed effect. When the main effect was significant, means were separated by Tukey’s
honestly significant difference test at P-value , 0.05.
The simplex lattice mixture design was used to estimate
suitable combinations of normal or unaffected broiler
breast meat (X1), mild WB meat (X2), and moderate
or severe WB meat (X3) to produce acceptable products.
The estimation of feasible mixtures was based on TPA
parameters, cook loss levels, and reduction levels in dimensions of chicken patties prepared with 100% of
normal broiler breast fillets. The statistical analysis
was achieved using JMP software, version 14.3.0 (SAS
Institute Inc., Cary, NC).
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Meat Quality Characteristics
The results from this study showed that quality characteristics of raw broiler breast fillets were significantly
different among WB categories (P , 0.01) (Table 2).
Broiler breast fillets severely affected by WB anomaly
were heavier than normal breast fillets (P , 0.05), which
was consistent with other studies (Mudalal et al., 2015;
Dalle Zotte et al., 2017) confirming the association of
WB incidence with heavy weight of broiler breast
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CALDAS-CUEVA ET AL.
Table 2. Effect of woody breast (WB) condition on quality characteristics of
raw broiler breast fillets.
WB category1
Parameter
Fillet weight (g)
Compression force (N)
pH
Lightness (L*)
Redness (a*)
Yellowness (b*)
Nor
MIL
c
394.28 6 7.52
4.29 6 0.21c
5.73 6 0.02c
54.67 6 0.40b
1.81 6 0.24b
12.98 6 0.30b
SEV
b
431.00 6 10.12
9.85 6 0.38b
5.82 6 0.03b
56.91 6 0.51a
1.94 6 0.23b
13.71 6 0.39a,b
473.22 6 9.76a
17.64 6 0.62a
6.01 6 0.02a
58.67 6 0.66a
2.95 6 0.29a
14.92 6 0.45a
a-c
Means 6 SEM with no common superscripts within a row differ significantly
(P , 0.05).
1
MIL, mild WB meat; NOR, normal breast meat; SEV, moderate or severe WB
meat.
myopathy throughout the breast fillet in addition to
the presence of small hemorrhages on its abnormal
ventral surface (Sihvo et al., 2014; Dalle Zotte et al.,
2017; Santos et al., 2019). However, the results from
this study were consistent with the data published by
Geronimo et al. (2019), who also measured the color on
the dorsal surface of breast fillets and reported higher
values of L*, a*, and b* parameters for fillets exhibiting
severe levels of WB condition compared to normal fillets.
Typical pale colors of WB meat (Sihvo et al., 2014) that
were also observed on its dorsal surface in this experiment could be related to an increased scattering or
dispersion of light in the abnormal meat owing to the
muscle fiber degeneration (Santos et al., 2019) along
with the accretion of extracellular water as a result of
edema and inflammatory processes (Sihvo et al., 2014;
Petracci et al., 2019).
Cook Loss and Dimensional Changes of
Chicken Patties
The water holding capacity was evaluated through
the determination of the cook loss level in chicken patties. The effect of WB severity on the cook loss levels
of chicken patties is shown in Figure 1. The results
showed that chicken patty treatments T5 and T7
through T9 had higher cook loss levels than patties
35
a
30
25
Cook loss (%)
muscles that could be related to the intensive selection of
broilers for rapid muscle growth and high yields (Sihvo
et al., 2014; Petracci et al., 2015, 2019). Broiler breast fillets partially affected by WB defect were also heavier
than normal breast fillets but lighter than severely
affected samples (P , 0.05).
With respect to the CF, breast fillets from broilers
more severely affected by WB condition presented the
highest CF value (P , 0.05), whereas normal samples
had the lowest CF (P , 0.05). Intermediate CF values
were observed in mild WB fillets that were lower than
those for severely affected by WB condition ones but
higher than CF values for normal samples (P , 0.05).
The CF results of this study are similar to those of previous reports that highlight higher CF values for breast
fillets severely affected by WB condition in comparison
with unaffected or normal samples (Mudalal et al.,
2015; Soglia et al., 2017; Sun et al., 2018; Baldi et al.,
2019). In this regard, some authors state that abnormal
hardness of WB meat could be associated with the
fibrosis as a result of the accumulation of highly crosslinked collagen fibrils (Velleman et al., 2017), which is
in agreement with another study (Soglia et al., 2017)
that suggests that the increased amount of connective
tissue components observed in WB fillets leads to a
high degree of inherent strength that results in modified
textural properties.
Muscle pH values increased (P , 0.05) as WB severity
increased in broiler breast fillets. Fillets severely affected
by WB condition showed higher (P , 0.05) pH values in
comparison with normal fillets, which was consistent
with recent publications (Dalle Zotte et al., 2017;
Sanchez-Brambila et al., 2017; Baldi et al., 2019;
Madruga et al., 2019). The higher pH values within
abnormal broiler breast fillets could be related to a
reduction of the glycogen content or modification of
the onset of acidification during the postmortem time
caused by this myopathy (Mudalal et al., 2015). With
respect to the instrumental color, the dorsal side of the
fillets severely affected by WB anomaly showed significantly higher (P , 0.05) values of lightness (L*), redness
(a*), and yellowness (b*) in comparison with normal
samples. Overall, there is no consensus about the instrumental color characterization of WB meat which may be
associated with the irregular distribution of this
ab
bc
bc
bc
bc
3
4
5
6
Treatments
ab
ab
7
8
c
20
15
10
5
0
1
2
9
Figure 1. Effect of woody breast (WB) condition on cook loss of
chicken patties. a-cMeans 6 SEM with no common superscripts differ
significantly (P , 0.05).
TEXTURE ANALYSIS OF PATTIES MADE WITH WOODY BREAST
Reduction level (%)
made from normal breast meat or treatment T1
(P , 0.05), which suggested that the cook loss of chicken
patties increased (P , 0.05) as WB severity increased in
the broiler breast meat added into the product formulation. These significant increasing trends in cook loss
levels were accompanied by a significant (P , 0.05)
reduction in diameter of chicken patties prepared using
combinations of breast meat partially and severely
affected by WB abnormality (T7 and T8) including the
treatment T9 in comparison with normal patties
(Figure 2). Nevertheless, no differences were observed
in the thickness or height reduction levels among chicken
patty treatments.
The poor ability to bind water observed in WB samples could be explained by the degeneration of muscle fibers accompanied by fibrosis, lipidosis and alterations in
fiber membrane integrity caused by WB anomaly (Soglia
et al., 2016b; Petracci et al., 2019). Indeed, changes in
the chemical composition (Soglia et al., 2016a,b; Baldi
et al., 2019) and reduction in muscle fiber number
(Sihvo et al., 2014; Mazzoni et al., 2015) play an important role in the reduction of water holding capacity in
breast fillets affected by WB defect, which could have
been reflected in the chicken patty samples. It has also
been hypothesized that the higher proportion of extramyofibrillar water and the greater mobility of intramyofibrillar water could be responsible for the increased
losses of fluids during cooking in WB meat (Soglia
et al., 2016a), which may have also been reflected in
the chicken patty treatments.
It has been suggested that unwanted differences in sensory texture features between intact cooked normal and
WB fillets can be minimized in a ground product
(Sanchez-Brambila et al., 2017). However, the benefits of
grinding breast fillets with WB condition might be related
to important factors such as the meat particle size. In fact,
the importance of the meat particle size reduction is
related to the increase in the surface area and the extraction of myofibrillar proteins that influence the functionality of them (Barbut, 2015). In this study, breast fillets
were ground separately by WB category using an electric
meat grinder through a 3-mm plate. Qin (2013) reported
that ground chicken nuggets containing WB meat (replacing the 30% of the total lean meat in the recipe) processed
in a pilot plant using a grinder with a 3-mm plate
Height
20
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
bc
abc
abc
3
4
Diameter
abc
a
abc
ab
ab
c
1
2
5
6
Treatments
7
8
9
Figure 2. Effect of woody breast (WB) condition on reduction levels
in height and diameter of chicken patties. a-cMeans 6 SEM with no common superscripts differ significantly (P , 0.05).
1243
presented higher cook loss percentages than normal samples, whereas Sanchez-Brambila et al. (2017) did not
find differences in cook loss levels between normal and
WB patties produced using a grinder with a chopper plate
of approximately 6-mm square hole. Madruga et al. (2019)
also observed that even though the cook loss results displayed increasing trends for WB sausages prepared using
a grinder with a 10-mm plate, there was no difference in
comparison with normal samples. In contrast, Chen
et al. (2018) found differences in cook loss levels between
normal and WB meatballs processed using a grinder
with a 6-mm plate. Because of these contrasting results
in terms of cook loss levels in addition to the large standard
deviation of this parameter for WB patties reported by
Sanchez-Brambila et al. (2017), further research is needed
to better understand the effect of WB myopathy on cook
loss levels of ground products prepared at different meat
particle sizes along with an evaluation of the effect of incorporation of ingredients into the formulation that can have
contributed to these differences.
Texture Profile Analysis of Chicken Patties
The instrumental TPA results of cooked chicken patties prepared with broiler breast fillets at varying degrees
of WB severity are shown in Table 3. The use of breast
fillets with WB condition modified (P , 0.05) instrumental texture characteristics of cooked chicken patties
significantly. Chicken patties prepared with breast meat
severely affected by WB condition or treatment T9 presented lower average values of hardness, cohesiveness,
springiness, and chewiness than normal chicken patties
or treatment T1 (P , 0.05). Chicken patties prepared using exclusively breast fillets partially affected by WB or
treatment T6 also had lower hardness, springiness, and
chewiness values than normal samples (P , 0.05), but
they showed higher hardness and chewiness values
than treatment T9 (P , 0.05). In this sense, Chen
et al. (2018) also reported that the TPA hardness, cohesiveness, springiness, and chewiness values of meatballs
made from WB meat were lower than those for normal
samples, highlighting defects caused by WB such as
decreased ability to bind water and increased water
overflowed during the gelation. Moreover, Xing et al.
(2017) found that the TPA hardness and cohesiveness
of thermal-induced gels prepared from WB meat were
lower than those for normal samples at different salt concentrations (0–4%), describing that the gel formed by
WB meat batter was more irregular. Recently, Santos
et al. (2019) also observed that normal emulsified
chicken patties were tougher than WB samples. However, there are some authors (Madruga et al., 2019) who
did not find differences in TPA parameters between
normal and WB chicken sausages. In another study conducted by Sanchez-Brambila et al. (2017), it was
observed that the average scores for sensory attributes
of hardness, cohesiveness, juiciness, fibrous, and rate of
breakdown were not different between normal and WB
patties; however, WB patties showed lower springiness
and chewiness scores than normal samples (P , 0.05).
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CALDAS-CUEVA ET AL.
Table 3. Effect of woody breast (WB) condition on the texture profile analysis of cooked chicken
patties.
Treatment (mixture)1
T1)
T2)
T3)
T4)
T5)
T6)
T7)
T8)
T9)
100% NOR
67% NOR 1 33% MIL
67% NOR 1 33% SEV
33% NOR 1 67% MIL
33% NOR 1 67% SEV
100% MIL
67% MIL 1 33% SEV
33% MIL 1 67% SEV
100% SEV
Hardness (N)
a
30.11 6 1.57
28.64 6 0.70a
27.97 6 1.10a,b
28.13 6 1.46a,b
23.43 6 0.87b,c
20.55 6 1.24c
19.14 6 1.21c,d
18.62 6 0.56c,d
14.56 6 0.50d
Cohesiveness
a
0.78 6 0.01
0.77 6 0.01a
0.75 6 0.01a,b
0.76 6 0.01a,b
0.75 6 0.01a,b
0.74 6 0.01a,b
0.74 6 0.01a,b
0.75 6 0.02a,b
0.71 6 0.01b
Springiness
Chewiness (N)
a
21.45 6 0.98a
18.40 6 0.56a,b
16.88 6 0.89b,c
18.00 6 0.90a,b
14.28 6 0.83c,d
12.10 6 0.94d
11.33 6 0.69d,e
11.29 6 0.51d,e
8.09 6 0.45e
0.91 6 0.01
0.83 6 0.01a,b
0.81 6 0.02b
0.85 6 0.01a,b
0.81 6 0.02b
0.79 6 0.02b
0.80 6 0.02b
0.81 6 0.03b
0.78 6 0.02b
a-e
Means 6 SEM with no common superscripts within a column differ significantly (P , 0.05).
MIL, mild WB meat; NOR, normal breast meat; SEV, moderate or severe WB meat.
1
With exception to treatments T1 through T4, the
hardness of chicken patties decreased (P , 0.05) as
WB severity increased in the broiler breast meat incorporated into the formulation. Furthermore, excluding
treatments T1, T2, and T4, the chewiness of patties
decreased (P , 0.05) as WB severity increased in the
broiler breast meat added to the product recipe. Internal
cracked and mushy layers were visually observed in test
samples of cooked patties starting from treatment T5
that were more evident as treatment number increased.
The impaired texture properties observed in chicken patties made from WB meat could be associated with the severe degeneration of muscle fibers and reduction of
myofibrillar proteins caused by this myopathy
(Mudalal et al., 2015; Soglia et al., 2016b) which in
turn generates more irregular and disorderly arranged
gel structures (Xing et al., 2017) that can be reflected
in the final product quality. Although higher levels of
cook loss and reduction in diameter were observed in
WB patties, the TPA hardness and chewiness values of
these samples were still lower than those for normal samples, which may be related to the fact that WB meat
typically shows lower levels of myofibrillar proteins
(i.e., less functional abilities).
Instrumental Color Measurements of
Chicken Patties
The results of the internal color evaluation of cooked
chicken patties are shown in Table 4. No differences
were observed in the L* parameter, whereas a* and b*
values differed among treatments (P , 0.01). Chicken
patties made from broiler breast meat partially (T6)
and severely (T9) affected by WB defect displayed a significant increase (P , 0.05) in a* parameter by 0.32 and
0.35 units, respectively, in comparison with normal samples. In contrast, chicken patties produced using combinations of mild WB fillets and severe WB fillets (T7 and
T8) including the treatment T9 showed a significant
reduction (P , 0.05) in b* parameter compared with
normal samples. Although the L* values were not
different among treatments, paler colors were visually
observed on the cross-sectional surface of cooked patties
containing high proportions of WB meat that might be
associated with the typical pale color of WB fillets
(Sihvo et al., 2014) that was also reported in this study
(Table 2).
Overall color changes were evaluated through the
calculation of the total color difference (DE*ab) between
a given chicken patty and the reference sample or normal
chicken patty (T1). Table 4 shows that T9 treatment had
a higher (P , 0.05) DE*ab value than treatments T2
through T6. However, the interpretation of DE*ab results
were carried out using the criteria suggested by Francis
and Clydesdale (1975), who considered that changes in
instrumental color measurements are visually noticeable
when DE*ab values are higher than 2, whereas these color
modifications are obvious or evident for the human eye
when DE*ab values are higher than 3. In this sense, patties prepared using mixtures of mild WB fillets and severe WB fillets (T7 and T8) including T9 showed
noticeable internal color modifications (DE*ab . 2)
when compared with normal patties. In other words,
Table 4. Effect of woody breast (WB) condition on instrumental color measurements of cooked
chicken patties.
Treatment (mixture)1
T1)
T2)
T3)
T4)
T5)
T6)
T7)
T8)
T9)
100% NOR
67% NOR 1 33% MIL
67% NOR 1 33% SEV
33% NOR 1 67% MIL
33% NOR 1 67% SEV
100% MIL
67% MIL 1 33% SEV
33% MIL 1 67% SEV
100% SEV
a-d
Lightness (L*)
79.58 6 0.46
80.87 6 0.37
80.57 6 0.32
79.88 6 0.56
80.72 6 0.17
79.98 6 0.53
80.83 6 0.36
81.14 6 0.50
81.39 6 0.46
Redness (a*)
c
1.44 6 0.03
1.47 6 0.07b,c
1.42 6 0.05c
1.41 6 0.07c
1.57 6 0.03a,b,c
1.76 6 0.04a,b
1.68 6 0.10a,b,c
1.71 6 0.07a,b,c
1.79 6 0.09a
Yellowness (b*)
a
14.43 6 0.25
14.39 6 0.18a
13.61 6 0.13a,b
14.05 6 0.31a,b
13.92 6 0.21a,b
14.19 6 0.20a,b
13.08 6 0.33b,c
12.22 6 0.32c,d
11.74 6 0.43d
DE*ab
0.00
1.40 6 0.29b
1.45 6 0.34b
1.56 6 0.36b
1.60 6 0.48b
1.54 6 0.33b
2.12 6 0.39a,b
3.09 6 0.53a,b
3.74 6 0.62a
Means 6 SEM with no common superscripts within a column differ significantly (P , 0.05).
MIL, mild WB meat; NOR, normal breast meat; SEV, moderate or severe WB meat.
1
TEXTURE ANALYSIS OF PATTIES MADE WITH WOODY BREAST
differences in internal color between these cooked patties
and the control may be noticed by consumers. On the
other hand, T8 and T9 treatments exhibited evident internal color changes (DE*ab . 3) compared to normal
samples.
Significant increasing trends were observed in DE*ab
values as WB severity increased in the chicken meat
incorporated into the patty formulation, which were
explained by changes in a* and b* parameters as well
as the increasing trends observed in L* parameter. The
redness of chicken patties increased (P , 0.05), whereas
the yellowness decreased (P , 0.05) as WB severity
increased in the meat added to the product recipe. In
this regard, Santos et al. (2019) reported that emulsified
chicken patties made from WB meat exhibited paler
colors with a reduction in redness. Qin (2013) also found
that the lightness of sausage and chicken nuggets
increased, whereas the redness and yellowness of these
products decreased as the proportion of WB meat
increased in the product formulation. Nevertheless,
Madruga et al. (2019) did not find differences in color parameters L*, a* and b* between normal and WB chicken
sausages. Chen et al. (2018) also reported that L* values
were not different between normal and WB meatballs.
Estimation of WB Meat Proportions for
Chicken Patty Production
Some studies have suggested the incorporation of WB
meat into poultry meat product formulations at different
proportions (Qin, 2013; Madruga et al., 2019; Santos
et al., 2019). However, these researchers included food
additives in their formulations such as soy protein
isolate, salt, and phosphates, which could have masked
the effect of WB myopathy on these processed products
by the interaction between WB meat and those additives
1245
that can modify functional properties such as water
holding capacity which in turn can change texture attributes of cooked meat products (Sanchez-Brambila et al.,
2017). For example, soy proteins are commonly used as
binders in products such as meat patties, meat loaves,
and sausages (Barbut, 2015). Thus, the study of the effect of WB on further processed products using only
chicken meat at varying degrees of WB severity may
be a suitable approach to assess the actual impact of
this meat quality problem and subsequently optimize
formulas for industrial applications including adequate
ingredients. In this sense, it was estimated WB meat proportions at different degrees of severity for chicken patty
preparation without causing significant quality changes
in this product compared with normal patties. This estimation was performed using the mixture profiler plot
based on TPA parameters, cook loss, and reduction in
diameter of chicken patties and including all these quality parameters together in the analysis (Figure 3).
The combinations of broiler breast meat of regular
quality with mild WB meat up to 60% or severe WB
meat up to 37% could be considered to produce acceptable patties in terms of TPA hardness and cohesiveness.
These results are relatively consistent with those from
the comparison of TPA parameters among treatments
from which no differences were observed in hardness
and cohesiveness values of patties prepared using mixtures of normal breast fillets with mild WB fillets at 33
and 67% or severe WB fillets at 33% compared with
normal patties. In contrast to these samples, irregular reductions in TPA hardness and cohesiveness values have
been reported as a result of an impaired gel structure
observed in gel-type meat products prepared using
exclusively WB meat compared with normal samples
(Xing et al., 2017; Chen et al., 2018) that could be associated with the degeneration of muscle fibers and the
Figure 3. Mixture profiler plots of broiler breast meat constituents at varying degrees of woody breast (WB) severity based on TPA parameters
(A), cook loss and reduction in diameter (B) of chicken patties as well as all these parameters together in the analysis (C). X1, proportion of normal
breast meat; X2, proportion of mild WB meat; X3, proportion of moderate or severe WB meat. Mixture profiler plots show unshaded regions as feasible
mixtures of normal, mild WB, and moderate or severe WB meats to produce acceptable patties based on quality characteristics of chicken patties
prepared with 100% of normal broiler breast fillets.
1246
CALDAS-CUEVA ET AL.
reduction of myofibrillar proteins caused by this defect
(Mudalal et al., 2015; Soglia et al., 2016b).
On the other hand, considering levels of cook loss and
reduction in diameter of patties, the mixtures of normal
breast meat with mild WB meat up to 43% or severe WB
meat up to 19% may be feasible to produce acceptable
patties. These proportions of broiler breast meat
partially and severely affected by WB were lower than
those obtained from the mixture profiler plot based on
TPA parameters; however, WB meat proportions
decreased when the analysis included all these quality
parameters together. Thus, the combinations of breast
fillets of normal quality with mild WB fillets up to 23%
or severe WB fillets up to 15% could be possible to produce acceptable patties comparable with normal samples
in terms of hardness, cohesiveness, cook loss, and reduction in diameter.
This study confirmed that the grinding process can
significantly change the relationship initially found between normal and WB fillets for some texture attributes
(Sanchez-Brambila et al., 2017). For example, unlike
intact broiler breast fillets, chicken patties prepared
with 100% of ground WB meat were less hard than
normal patties (P , 0.05). It has been suggested that
the grinding process contributes to ease of extracting
surface soluble proteins, reduce cooking loss, and
improve binding strength (Acton, 1972). However, the
benefits of grinding WB meat may be limited, even
with the incorporation of food additives into the ground
meat product formulation. In this sense, Qin (2013) verified at a pilot plant scale that formulations of sausage
and 2 types of chicken nuggets (coarsely chopped and
ground) enabled the addition of WB meat to replace
only 15 and 30% of the normal lean meat without
causing significant quality changes in these products,
respectively. This author also observed that coarser
comminuting methods allowed higher proportions of
broiler breast fillets with WB in meat products in comparison with comminuting methods producing finer particles. Nevertheless, some authors have concluded that
WB meat could not be suitable to produce gel-type
meat products owing to this abnormal meat shows inferior functional properties through processing (Xing
et al., 2017; Chen et al., 2018). Recently, Santos et al.
(2019) concluded that the most adequate meat combination to develop emulsified chicken patties consisted of
50% of normal breast meat mixed with 50% of WB meat.
In conclusion, the results from this study showed that
the effect of using broiler breast fillets affected by WB
condition on quality characteristics of chicken patties
is related to the degree of WB severity and the proportion to be incorporated into the formulation. There is evidence of the poor functionality associated with the
inclusion of WB meat at high levels in chicken patties
in terms of water holding capacity and texture properties. Compared with normal samples, chicken patties
prepared using severe WB fillets, either alone or combined with mild WB fillets, presented lower values of
hardness, springiness, and chewiness parameters as
well as higher levels of cook loss along with a significant
reduction in diameter and noticeable internal cooked color changes. Thus, these data suggest that the combinations of breast fillets of normal quality with those
affected by WB myopathy at relatively low proportions
could be considered by processors as an alternative in
commercial chicken patty recipes. For example, in this
study, combinations of breast fillets of normal quality
with up to 15% moderate/severe WB fillets could be
possible to produce acceptable patties. However, further
research is needed to optimize the incorporation of WB
meat into chicken patty formulations for industrial applications considering the meat particle size and
including suitable food additives accompanied by technological, sensorial, and nutritional profile assessments.
DISCLOSURES
There is no conflict of interest.
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